So often we live our lives in the confines of expectations.
It’s natural to have expectations, even of other people.
Expectations are formed simply by what you know to be true.
And just as we have expectations of others, people have expectations of us.
And success (whether it is in relationships or in life) is often determined by how accurate you are at perceiving and fulfilling what is expected of you.
I have a confession…
I have a sort of sixth sense. It's this innate ability of perceiving exactly what is expected of me. Even if it is never voiced, I just know what people want from me.
And honestly I'm pretty good at living up to them.
And there it is.
My secret to success.
Immersed in a culture of respect, my awareness of expectations has been heightened recently and I realized I’m not the only one living up to what is expected of me.
As I look around I see people trying to walk with ropes around their necks, tied to the people around them.
Suddenly the thing that I saw as the key to success became a prison that my life has been confined to,
and I wanted out.
But I don't think it's the expectations that are the problem.
The problem is whose expectations am I living to fill.
People’s or God’s?
Today, as I often do, I found myself caught in the middle.
And I have to stop and ask,
“God, what do you expect of me?”
***
I expect you to listen to me.
I expect you to obey.
I expect you to believe me when I say that I love you unconditionally.
I expect you to be completely transparent with me, completely honest and vulnerable before me.
I expect you to rest when I tell you to and to pick up the slack when I say to.
I expect you to follow through with what you say you are going to do – to let your “yes” be “yes” and your “no” be “no.”
I expect you to give me everything, to surrender absolutely everything in your heart to my will.
I expect that you look to me and me alone as your authority.
BUT I do not expect you to be perfect.
I do not expect you to get it all the time.
And let me tell you, Beloved, I don’t expect anything of you that I haven’t already given you. I have given you the strength, the energy, the desire, the self control, the power to fulfill what I expect of you.
On your own strength, you couldn’t do it.
You couldn’t meet what was expected of you.
AND SO, I gave it to you. I put my Spirit within you. I gave you the perfection that you craved, but could never achieve. I gave you the complete fulfillment of all that is expected of you. You already ARE all that I want of you. Perfection is written in your very identity.
You need to understand this-I LOVE you.
Absolutely and completely.
And nothing you do will cause me to love you any more, or any less.
This is grace.
I only expect you to love me back.
I expect you not to live to fill other people’s expectations, but mine alone.
You are going to be misunderstood. You are going to fail at living up to other’s expectations. And that is OKAY. Choose me. You answer only to me. Only my opinion matters.
And know this- I am well pleased with you, my daughter.
I am well pleased with you.
And nothing you do or don’t do will ever change that, it is who you are.
Walk in that freedom.
